In the beginning the RUF wanted to overthrow the corrupt government of Sierra Leone. The RUF had support from the people, however the RUF turned into a brutal force and now wanted to control the diamond mines. The war in Sierra Leone lasted from 1991 to 2002 when the peace treaty with the head of the RUF, a revolutionary United Front dedicated to overthrow the Democratic government and turn it into a military government, Fonday Sankoh sign this treaty with the president of Sierra Leone. Fonday died before he was tried in a court system for war crimes committed through the decade of death.
The RUF went to villages and kidnapped young kids starting from the age of 5 to take them to training camps that lasted from 2-3 months and sent them to do massive killings. As the child grew, the RUF gave them drugs right before combat to feel indestructible, and these kids were in the front line because kids are unpredictable in battle. The profit from diamonds that are sold from the RUF to the market are being used to finance a war that involve children. 15% of all diamonds in the world come from conflict zone like Sierra Leone. It may not be much but it still make the RUF a yearly income of millions. Da Beer, a giant in the diamond industry, own 2/3 of all diamonds in the world. The U.S own about 1/3 of all rough diamonds, so the chances of you buying a rough diamond, and you helping finance a war you don't even know going is high.
The RUF is being supplied arms by Liberian rebels who were fighting a war, with the same path as the RUF. During the last year of the war, the Sierra Leone government told the people that their fate is in their hands, RUF then went hunting for civilian mutilating people by chopping their hands off.
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